Illuminating symptoms of long COVID

A study may have uncovered the mechanisms underlying systemic immune dysregulation and pulmonary impairment in patients with long COVID.

In the study, published in Nature Immunology, researchers analyzed single-cell multiome, immunological profiling and functional assay data. They discovered that patients who developed long COVID following mild to moderate acute COVID-19 infections presented with a circulating CD14-positive monocyte transcriptional state, called LC-Mo.

The researchers noted that the LC-Mo state was associated with elevated markers of systemic inflammation for up to nine months postinfection — including the plasma CCL2, CXCL11 and tumor necrosis factor — and expression was inversely correlated with respiratory outcomes. Epigenetic analyses showed that the LC-Mo state was driven by factors previously implicated in chronic inflammatory and fibrotic diseases.

The findings indicated that systemic immune alterations could be linked to persistent long COVID in this patient population.

Read more: Nature Immunology

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